This study presents evidence on the costs and benefits of sanitation improvements in different programmatic and geographical contexts in Southeast Asia. It aims to promote evidence-based decision making to increase the volume, effectiveness, and sustainability of sanitation expenditure in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, the Philippines, Vietnam and Yunnan Province (China). This evidence enables explicit comparison of sanitation options on the basis of their relative merits and thus informs both public and private decisions on sanitation investment.

This report outlines current theories about why international water cooperation occurs and subsequently matches these theories with the identified factors that lead to cooperative events. Section 1 provides an overview of the report and the theoretical background on cooperation over transboundary aquifers by describing the transboundary aquifers of the world, summarizing current theories of cooperative water resources management, and generally describing instances of cooperation and conflict over transboundary aquifers. Section 2 extrapolates enabling factors...[Read full description]

Geographical coverage (region): Global

Main themes: Conflicts, Groundwater, Peacebuilding, Transboundary waters, Water cooperation, Water governance, Water management, Water security

This global review of formative research studies identifies a number of commonalities across countries and regions, as well as a number of emerging themes that positively and negatively influence sanitation behaviours. Although some differences are found across countries, in general themes coalesced around facets of opportunity, ability, and motivation. The document suggests a numbers of factors which serve to promote positive sanitation behaviours, including changing social norms, challenging perceptions of latrine affordability, fostering positive latrine a...[Read full description]

The International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities (IBNET) provides a set of tools that allows water and sanitation utilities to measure their performance both against their own past performance and against the performance of similar utilities at the national, regional, and global levels. The Blue Book is designed to raise awareness of how benchmarking and specifically IBNET tools can help enhance utility performance and thereby help to improve water and wastewater services. This issue summarizes water sector development in 2006¿11, des...[Read full description]

Water quality deterioration in distribution systems, mainly caused by inappropriate planning, design and construction or inadequate operation and maintenance and water quality control, has been linked to a significant proportion of the burden of waterborne and water-related illness. Stresses on these systems caused by rapid urbanization, population growth and aging infrastructure further exacerbates the problems. This reference tool has been developed to help water suppliers and regulators who are familiar with the Water Safety Plan (WSP) approach enhance the...[Read full description]

Globally, the great majority of urban dwellers, especially poor people, rely for their sanitation on non-sewered systems that generate a mix of solid and liquid wastes generally termed fecal sludge. In poor and rapidly expanding cities, fecal sludge management represents a growing challenge, generating significant negative public health and environmental risks. Without proper management, fecal sludge is often allowed to accumulate in poorly designed pits, is discharged into storm drains and open water, or is dumped into waterways, wasteland, and unsanitary du...[Read full description]

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) consists of Cambodia, the People's Republic of China (PRC, specifically Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. In 1992, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the GMS countries launched the GMS Economic Cooperation Program to strengthen economic links between them. This study summarizes a recent major initiative to assess the initial impact of ADB-supported projects under the Greater Mekong Subregion Program.

This publication showcases a compilation of project briefs culled from case studies of good practices, new approaches, and working models on sanitation and wastewater management from different countries in Asia and the Pacific. This compilation of good practices and working models intends to show that sustainable sanitation is possible, and aims to inspire replication, institutionalization of sanitation both in policy and practice, and scaling up of investments. Cases analyzed demonstrate solution options from which useful lessons can be derived and are prese...[Read full description]

National Hydrological and Meteorological Services (NHMS), United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 2013

This Country Assessment Report for Cambodia investigates the capacity of the national hydrological and meteorological services (NHMSs) and recommends improvements through a regional approach. Initial assessments in the report show the cost-effectiveness of strengthening national hydro-meteorological services through regional cooperation for reducing adverse impacts of natural hazard-induced disasters and climate change which know no national boundaries.

This publication aims to provide a better understanding of opportunities to successfully implement Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Schools programs (planning, operations, management, and policy formulation). It aims to encourage the routine collection and use of more reliable data to strengthen country and regional level planning for WASH in schools, and will serve to guide policy-makers on steps necessary to ensure that water and sanitation issues are not an obstacle to a quality education for all the children of South-East Asian Countries. The repor...[Read full description]

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